Over 187,000 Students Have Experienced School Shootings Since Columbine: Report

Over 187,000 students at 193 schools have experienced a school shooting since the Columbine massacre, according to a Washington Post report published Wednesday. Sixty-three percent of students who were exposed to gun violence at schools were children of color, the newspaper reported. Since 1999, there have been 10 school shootings each year on average in the U.S., and shootings have occurred across 36 states and districts, the Post concluded. The shootings have caused 375 deaths or injuries. The newspaper's year-long analysis also found that 85 percent of shooters obtained their weapons from home, and 68 of the schools surveyed had an armed security guard or resource officer on duty. Only on-campus grade school shootings during school hours were counted by the paper. The report did not tally private suicides and accidental gunfire that caused no injuries. The country has already seen over a dozen school shootings this year, including one at a Maryland school on Tuesday and the Parkland, Florida, shooting that left 17 people dead. “It’s no longer the default that going to school is going to make you feel safe,” psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry told the Post.